Interior Design Dubai: Residential and Commercial Interiors
Renovel is a Dubai interior design company working across residential and commercial projects, from villa and apartment interiors to offices, retail units, restaurants, and hotels. We design, draw, specify, get the approvals, and build, all under one contract. This page sets out the full range of interior design services we offer in Dubai and the UAE, how the process runs, what design fees look like in 2026, and where to go for the detail on your project type.
Interior Design Services in Dubai
Each service below has its own page with the costs, approvals, materials, and timelines specific to that project type. Start with the one closest to your property.
Two Sides of the Practice
Residential and commercial interiors share a process but almost nothing else. A home is designed around a household and judged over decades. A trading space is designed around an operation, wears out ten times faster, and has to clear an inspecting authority before it can open. We run both, with different specification standards and different approval workflows.
Residential Interior Design
Villas, townhouses, apartments from studios to penthouses, majlis rooms, and holiday-let units. We replan the developer layout around how the household actually lives, draw the joinery to your real ceiling heights, and specify finishes that survive the humidity swing between conditioned interiors and Dubai summers.
- Villa interior design in Palm Jumeirah, Emirates Hills, Arabian Ranches, and Dubai Hills
- Apartment interior design in Dubai Marina, Downtown, Business Bay, and JVC
- Arabic majlis design for UAE family homes
- Custom interior design where nothing comes from a catalogue
Commercial Interior Design
Retail and showrooms, restaurants and cafes, clinics, salons and wellness, gyms, offices, and hospitality properties. Commercial design starts with the operational numbers, then works through MEP coordination, landlord fit-out manuals, and the approval route your sector requires.
- Office interior design for corporate workspaces in DIFC, Business Bay, and the free zones
- Retail interior design for mall units, street shops, and showrooms
- Restaurant interior design including cafes and cloud kitchens
- Hospitality interior design for hotels, spas, and resorts
How We Work, Brief to Handover
The same ten stages run on every project, scaled to the job. What changes between a studio apartment and a hotel floor is depth, not sequence. Because we design, manufacture joinery, and build, the drawings are produced by the people who have to install from them.
Brief and Site Survey
We establish how the space will be used and by whom, then measure it properly. Developer drawings in Dubai are often out by enough to matter once joinery is being made to millimetres, so nothing is designed from a PDF alone.
Space Planning
Layout, circulation, and zoning resolved before any style decision. On a home that means storage, sightlines, and how the family moves. On a commercial unit it means customer flow, service routes, and the operational numbers the space has to hit.
Concept and Mood Direction
Mood boards, a colour story, and a material palette per room or per zone. You approve a direction before anything is priced, which is where budget control actually starts.
3D Visualisation
Photoreal renders at the real ceiling heights, window positions, and daylight angles of your property. Changes here are free. Changes on site are not.
Technical Drawings
Floor and setting-out plans, reflected ceiling and lighting layouts, electrical and data, wet-area detailing, MEP coordination, and joinery sections and elevations. This is the set the trades build from.
FF&E Specification
Furniture, fixtures, equipment, and finishes scheduled item by item with supplier, code, lead time, and cost, so the budget is visible line by line rather than as a single lump sum.
Approvals
Developer NOC and building management on residential work. Dubai Municipality, DDA, Trakhees, Civil Defence, landlord fit-out manuals, food safety, and DHA on commercial work. We prepare, submit, and manage the comments.
Procurement
Orders placed in the sequence the programme needs, with long-lead items released during design rather than when the trade is due to start on site.
Site Supervision
Our team runs the trades, checks setting out against the drawings, and signs off each stage. Design and build under one roof means no argument about design intent.
Styling and Handover
Final styling, snag closure, commissioning, and a handover pack with as-built drawings and the finish schedule for future maintenance.
Space planning is the stage that decides whether the rest works. Our guide to interior design space planning in Dubai explains the method in more detail.
What Interior Design Costs in Dubai in 2026
Every proposal contains two numbers that get confused with each other. The design fee pays for the planning, the drawings, and the specification. The build or fit-out cost pays for materials, joinery, and labour. The table below is orientation across both, and each service page carries the detail for its own project type.
| What is being priced | 2026 Dubai range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Residential design fee, percentage | 10 to 20 percent of project budget | Used on full villas and penthouses where the scope is still forming. |
| Commercial design fee, percentage | 8 to 15 percent of fit-out value | The standard arrangement on retail, F&B, clinic, and workplace projects. |
| Design fee per square foot | AED 175 to 550 per sq ft | Full-service design where the area is fixed and the deliverable set is defined. |
| Fixed design fee, homes | AED 10,000 to 250,000 and above | Studio or single room at the bottom, a 3 bedroom apartment or villa at the top. |
| Residential build cost | AED 200 to 400 per sq ft mid, AED 600 and above luxury | A refresh-level scope sits lower, at roughly AED 75 to 150 per sq ft. |
| Commercial fit-out cost | AED 220 to 650 per sq ft for offices | Retail runs AED 150 to 500 standard, and restaurants AED 400 to 1,800 depending on kitchen scope. |
VAT at 5 percent applies to design and fit-out services in the UAE. These ranges are market orientation, not a quotation: we issue a fixed number after the site survey once the scope and the approval route are confirmed. For a fuller breakdown see our Dubai interior design cost guide.
Approvals and Specification, the Two Things Most Projects Get Wrong
Approvals depend on where the property sits
Mainland Dubai projects go through Dubai Municipality via the BPS portal. DDA governs districts such as Dubai Design District and Dubai Internet City. Trakhees covers Dubai World communities including Palm Jumeirah and Jebel Ali. On top of that sit the developer or master community NOC, building management sign-off in towers, a Dubai Civil Defence NOC on commercial work, mall and landlord fit-out manuals, Dubai Municipality food safety permits for anything that handles food, and DHA layout approval and licensing for clinics.
Drawings rejected at first submission are the most common cause of a slipped completion date, so compliance is written into the first drawing set rather than patched in after a rejection. We confirm the authority at survey stage and manage the submissions.
Specification has to suit the Gulf
Dubai runs above 45C for months with coastal humidity of 70 to 90 percent, while conditioned interiors sit at 30 to 40 percent. Panels and timber cycle between those states constantly. A specification copied from a European scheme is why wardrobe doors drop, veneers lift, and glue lines fail within three years.
- Marine-grade plywood in wet areas and coastal properties, moisture-resistant MDF for painted door fronts
- Solid timber used for frames and detail rather than wide panels that gap or split
- Large-format porcelain and stone where UV through full-height glazing would damage timber flooring
- Anti-fungal and moisture-tolerant paint systems in bathrooms and kitchens
- Stainless and coated hardware on the coast, where salt air finds every unprotected fixing
- Contract-rated floors, fabrics, and wall protection on anything that trades
Why Renovel as Your Interior Design Company in Dubai
Design and build in one contract
The scheme you approve in 3D is the scheme we install. There is no handover gap where a separate contractor reinterprets the detail or substitutes the specification.
Our own joinery workshop
Wardrobes, kitchens, media walls, reception counters, and case goods are made in house, which controls finish quality, tolerance, and lead time on the largest line in most budgets.
Approvals handled as a design input
Developer NOCs, municipality permits, Civil Defence, food safety, and DHA requirements are built into the drawings from the start rather than chased afterwards.
Designers based in Dubai
A team that works in this climate and these communities every day, led by Roosa Kaskinen, so the specification reflects how buildings here actually behave.
We work across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. If you are still comparing studios, our guide to the top interior design companies in Dubai sets out what to check before you appoint one, and our guide to interior design styles is a useful starting point for a brief.
Frequently Asked Questions
What interior design services does Renovel offer in Dubai?
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We offer residential interior design for villas, apartments, penthouses, and studios, commercial interior design for retail, restaurants, clinics, salons, and gyms, office and corporate workspace design, hospitality design for hotels, spas, and resorts, Arabic majlis design, and fully custom interior design for clients with a specific creative brief. Design, joinery manufacture, and fit-out sit under one contract.
How much does interior design cost in Dubai in 2026?
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Design fees are structured three ways. As a percentage, 10 to 20 percent of the project budget on residential work and 8 to 15 percent of fit-out value on commercial work. Per square foot, AED 175 to 550 for a full-service design. Or as a fixed fee, typically AED 10,000 to 25,000 for a studio or single room, AED 25,000 to 60,000 for a 1 to 2 bedroom apartment, and AED 35,000 to 250,000 and above for a villa. Build cost is separate and runs roughly AED 200 to 400 per sq ft at mid residential specification and AED 220 to 650 per sq ft for a commercial fit-out. VAT at 5 percent applies.
Do you work on both residential and commercial projects?
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Yes. Our residential work covers villas, apartments, penthouses, and majlis rooms. Our commercial work covers retail and showrooms, restaurants and cafes, clinics, salons and wellness, gyms, offices and corporate workspaces, and hospitality properties including hotels, spas, and resorts. Each has a dedicated page with its own costs, approvals, and timelines.
How long does an interior design project take in Dubai?
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Design alone runs 7 to 12 weeks from brief to a signed technical drawing set on a home, and 5 to 10 weeks on a commercial unit. Adding approvals, procurement, and site works, an apartment usually completes in 3 to 5 months, a villa in 5 to 9 months, a retail shop in 4 to 12 weeks on site, and a restaurant of 80 to 150 covers in 14 to 20 weeks. Long-lead joinery and imported furniture are what set the programme, so those orders are placed during design.
Do you handle Dubai Municipality and developer approvals?
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Yes. We confirm the approval route at survey stage and prepare and submit the drawings. Residential work usually needs a developer or master community NOC and building management sign-off, plus a Dubai Municipality permit where the work is structural or touches wet areas. Commercial work goes through Dubai Municipality, DDA, or Trakhees depending on the district, with a Civil Defence NOC, landlord or mall fit-out manual compliance, DM food safety for F&B, and DHA approval for clinics.
Who are your interior designers?
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Our design work is led by Roosa Kaskinen, a Finnish interior designer based in Dubai, who brings a Scandinavian design sensibility adapted to Gulf architecture and the UAE lifestyle. She works with a Dubai-based team of designers, technical draughtsmen, and project managers, plus our own joinery workshop, which is why the specification written into a schedule is the one that reaches site.
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